I think I typed something like "Eckhart Tolle discussion forum" in Google (it was DAYS ago! i can't remember). I came looking for it because I've being working on my awareness and presence for a while, have read and listened to a lot of ET and wanted to be around people who also loved what he teaches.

A couple of years ago i started reading the Reality Sandwich website on a regular basis. There i discovered the wonderful Charles Eisentstein, author of a magnificent book "The Ascent of Humanity." One of the commentaries on an Eisenstein piece mentioned the crazy lovely German guy, Mr. Eckhart Tolle. This led to my reading Eckhart's first book, The Power of Now, and later, The Good Earth.

Forty years ago I had read Alan Watts, almost all of Alan Watts, and Suzuki, and others, and had a peace-giving glimmer of connection to "Presence". Simultaneous with discovering Eckhart, I found some of the Gnostic writings of TImothy Freke.

In digesting the works of Freke and Eisenstein and Tolle, a further awakening has occurred in me. I have great admiration for all of these guys, and great appreciation for their ability to communicate and describe both this illusion of Separation, and the process and paths to Awakening (I should also mention, in my own journey, the lovely work of Vietnamese monk Thich Nhat Hahn as most effectively Awakening).

With these other spiritual guides as background, or setting, the Tolle teachings resonate the most vibrantly and clearly within me. His message, I think, is the same message expressed by the Buddha, by Lao Tsu, and the ancient Hindu teachers, as well as the Christ of the original Gnostic Christians, as well as the followers of Mithras in ancient Persia, Dionysus in Greece, and Osiris in Egypt. It seems to me now that the core of nearly all of the religions known to man on this planet is the same core: we are the Manifest expression of the Unmanifest Oneness which goes by the many names of "God" in history. Eckhart speaks most clearly to me, and I think that for me all the other teachers and teachings have made me ready to receive Eckhart's teachings.

I have found the Tolle concept of "watching" the ego, the thinker, the programmed and separated Life Story which I think of as "me" as most profoundly affecting.

I'm glad you have created this place on the web. I have shared many of the Tolle and Eisenstein and Freke works with many of my intimates; unfortunately, most (not all) scratch their heads and still wonder what I am talking about. I look forward to exloring this place of those to whom the lovely Eckhart rings a true and vibrant chord. Thank you.

My manifest self is called John, and my temporary manifest self lives in the mountains just east of Phoenix, in Arizona, in the United States.

Welcome JuanMatus - we look forward to your comments... In 1944 Aldous Huxley wrote a little book titled "The Perennial Philosophy," collecting nondual writings from many cultures. Alan Watts was a pioneer, too.

Andy

A person is not a thing or a process, but an opening through which the universe manifests. - Martin HeideggerThere is not past, no future; everything flows in an eternal present. - James Joyce

Glad to have you here, JuanMatus, and I hope you enjoy our little forum community.

kiki

"Miss Kelly, perhaps you'd like this flower. I seem to have misplaced my buttonhole ... Miss Kelly, you know, when you wear my flower you make it look beautiful." Elwood P. Dowd---Your donation will help keep us online.

I found the forum through Google. I am hoping to find some feedback on a topic that I have not seen addressed in other Eckhart discussions- that of Ego and the artist. When i searched the forum with these key words no match was found. I find this very interesting as artists ( of all kinds) are notorious for their egos and my ego has imprisoned me for most of my life. I find that art is where my ego is unquestionably the strongest.

Welcome to the board, macbeth-7. Heidi, one of our moderators, is an artist.

kiki

"Miss Kelly, perhaps you'd like this flower. I seem to have misplaced my buttonhole ... Miss Kelly, you know, when you wear my flower you make it look beautiful." Elwood P. Dowd---Your donation will help keep us online.

Macbeth-7 - This is a wonderful opportunity for you to start a discussion in Questions or Personal Experiences. One thing I have experienced over the years, is the way my ego interacts with being an artist has changed a lot!Welcome to the forum.